Jim English
Director of Molecular Biology at Maxygen- Claim this Profile
Click to upgrade to our gold package
for the full feature experience.
Topline Score
Bio
Gusui Wu
I had the pleasure of working with Jim for nearly 20 years. Jim is an excellent molecular biologist with experience in DNA shuffling, HTP screening, assay development, and plant biology. He has been very productive in various projects of protein engineering and plant systems over the years. His creativity and sometimes unconventional ways of solving problems had always impressed me. In additional, Jim is such a nice person, getting along with everybody, and at the same time a lot of fun to work with. Any organization will be fortunate to have him.
Mike Lassner
I have known Jim English for many years, since long before I started working with him at Maxygen (subsequently Verdia and DuPont Pioneer). I first got to know Jim when he was a postdoc at UCDavis. I also knew his supervisors at all his academic and private sector roles. All his supervisors considered Jim a gem in their research organizations. He was always one of the most productive scientists and known for his "good hands," i.e. he consistently managed to get good data and run quality experiments. Jim has deep experience in plant pathology, gene silencing, new active discovery, and protein engineering to optimize those "not quite perfect" discovered proteins into commercially viable products. During the time I worked with him from Maxygen through DuPont Pioneer (about 15 years), Jim was successful in using directed evolution and high throughput assays to optimize antifungal actives, DNA modifying enzymes and insect actives. He is a seasoned professional in plant molecular biology, plant transient assays, and gene expression. Highly recommended
Gusui Wu
I had the pleasure of working with Jim for nearly 20 years. Jim is an excellent molecular biologist with experience in DNA shuffling, HTP screening, assay development, and plant biology. He has been very productive in various projects of protein engineering and plant systems over the years. His creativity and sometimes unconventional ways of solving problems had always impressed me. In additional, Jim is such a nice person, getting along with everybody, and at the same time a lot of fun to work with. Any organization will be fortunate to have him.
Mike Lassner
I have known Jim English for many years, since long before I started working with him at Maxygen (subsequently Verdia and DuPont Pioneer). I first got to know Jim when he was a postdoc at UCDavis. I also knew his supervisors at all his academic and private sector roles. All his supervisors considered Jim a gem in their research organizations. He was always one of the most productive scientists and known for his "good hands," i.e. he consistently managed to get good data and run quality experiments. Jim has deep experience in plant pathology, gene silencing, new active discovery, and protein engineering to optimize those "not quite perfect" discovered proteins into commercially viable products. During the time I worked with him from Maxygen through DuPont Pioneer (about 15 years), Jim was successful in using directed evolution and high throughput assays to optimize antifungal actives, DNA modifying enzymes and insect actives. He is a seasoned professional in plant molecular biology, plant transient assays, and gene expression. Highly recommended
Gusui Wu
I had the pleasure of working with Jim for nearly 20 years. Jim is an excellent molecular biologist with experience in DNA shuffling, HTP screening, assay development, and plant biology. He has been very productive in various projects of protein engineering and plant systems over the years. His creativity and sometimes unconventional ways of solving problems had always impressed me. In additional, Jim is such a nice person, getting along with everybody, and at the same time a lot of fun to work with. Any organization will be fortunate to have him.
Mike Lassner
I have known Jim English for many years, since long before I started working with him at Maxygen (subsequently Verdia and DuPont Pioneer). I first got to know Jim when he was a postdoc at UCDavis. I also knew his supervisors at all his academic and private sector roles. All his supervisors considered Jim a gem in their research organizations. He was always one of the most productive scientists and known for his "good hands," i.e. he consistently managed to get good data and run quality experiments. Jim has deep experience in plant pathology, gene silencing, new active discovery, and protein engineering to optimize those "not quite perfect" discovered proteins into commercially viable products. During the time I worked with him from Maxygen through DuPont Pioneer (about 15 years), Jim was successful in using directed evolution and high throughput assays to optimize antifungal actives, DNA modifying enzymes and insect actives. He is a seasoned professional in plant molecular biology, plant transient assays, and gene expression. Highly recommended
Gusui Wu
I had the pleasure of working with Jim for nearly 20 years. Jim is an excellent molecular biologist with experience in DNA shuffling, HTP screening, assay development, and plant biology. He has been very productive in various projects of protein engineering and plant systems over the years. His creativity and sometimes unconventional ways of solving problems had always impressed me. In additional, Jim is such a nice person, getting along with everybody, and at the same time a lot of fun to work with. Any organization will be fortunate to have him.
Mike Lassner
I have known Jim English for many years, since long before I started working with him at Maxygen (subsequently Verdia and DuPont Pioneer). I first got to know Jim when he was a postdoc at UCDavis. I also knew his supervisors at all his academic and private sector roles. All his supervisors considered Jim a gem in their research organizations. He was always one of the most productive scientists and known for his "good hands," i.e. he consistently managed to get good data and run quality experiments. Jim has deep experience in plant pathology, gene silencing, new active discovery, and protein engineering to optimize those "not quite perfect" discovered proteins into commercially viable products. During the time I worked with him from Maxygen through DuPont Pioneer (about 15 years), Jim was successful in using directed evolution and high throughput assays to optimize antifungal actives, DNA modifying enzymes and insect actives. He is a seasoned professional in plant molecular biology, plant transient assays, and gene expression. Highly recommended
Experience
-
Maxygen
-
United States
-
Biotechnology Research
-
1 - 100 Employee
-
Director of Molecular Biology
-
Jun 2019 - Present
Maxygen offers molecular breeding directed evolution technology to any sector of biology and medicine where improvements in function are required. Applications include enzymes for various purposes (e.g., gene editing, in vitro RNA synthesis, next-generation sequencing, enzymatic synthesis of small molecules, and others), growth factors (e.g., for ex vivo cell culture), gene therapy vector and viral functions (e.g., infectivity, tropism, production levels), and vaccines (intrinsic immunogenicity, overcoming polymorphism). Show less
-
-
-
-
Research Scientist III, Group Leader
-
2012 - Jun 2019
Managed molecular biology team (two SRAs) responsible for multiple protein discovery and optimization projects, utilizing protein engineering and protein directed evolution via gene shuffling and other techniques. Also initiated and managed rapid plant transient testing program (two RAs and a Scientist), enabling early assessment of transgene leads in model hosts and crop plants to drive efficiency gains in the product development pipeline.• Produced optimized homing endonucleases with increased activity and specificity, resulting in greatly improved gene editing / gene targeting efficiencies.• Validated yeast test system for Cas9 / CRISPR and established activity-based screening system.• Utilized transcriptome and genomic sequence data to isolate, express and characterize hundreds of insecticidal proteins from plant and bacterial sources, generating multiple leads in product development.• Delivered an improved corn rootworm insecticidal protein now in advanced product development.• Hands-on experience with gene synthesis, protein library design, construction and characterization, high throughput protein expression and screening.• Built and managed an effective team of confident, engaged, enthusiastic and productive Scientists, Senior Research Associates and Research Associates through mentoring and effective communication.• Served as department contact to patent legal team, facilitated recurring meetings, maintained patent filings docket, and drafted patent specifications. Show less
-
-
Research Scientist II
-
2004 - 2012
Responsible for protein discovery and optimization projects. Supervised SRAs and summer interns.• Established a pipeline for discovery of antifungal proteins from various sources. Developed an E. coli expression system for high throughput production of defensin antifungal proteins.• Utilized a novel protein optimization scheme to generate improved plant defensins for fungal disease control in crop plants.• Optimized a novel oxalate oxidase enzyme for detoxification of fungal pathogenicity factor associated with for soybean white mold disease. Show less
-
-
-
-
Research Scientist
-
2000 - 2004
Responsible for directed evolution of multiple enzymes. • Improved enzymatic detoxification of fumonisin mycotoxin for deployment in corn. • Delivered improved Flp recombinase variants, enabling more efficient gene targeting in corn. • Directed evolution of thermophilic -glucuronidase for improved activity at ambient temperature. Responsible for directed evolution of multiple enzymes. • Improved enzymatic detoxification of fumonisin mycotoxin for deployment in corn. • Delivered improved Flp recombinase variants, enabling more efficient gene targeting in corn. • Directed evolution of thermophilic -glucuronidase for improved activity at ambient temperature.
-
-
-
DNA Plant Technology Corp
-
United States
-
Biotechnology Research
-
Research Scientist
-
1997 - 2000
• Developed plant viral vectors for rapid gene testing in tobacco, tomato. • Engineered crop plants (tomato, pepper, squash) for resistance to RNA viruses. • Developed plant viral vectors for rapid gene testing in tobacco, tomato. • Engineered crop plants (tomato, pepper, squash) for resistance to RNA viruses.
-
-
-
The Sainsbury Laboratory
-
United Kingdom
-
Biotechnology Research
-
1 - 100 Employee
-
Postdoctoral Researcher
-
1994 - 1997
• Advisor: Professor Sir David Baulcombe. • Constructed plant viral vectors for study of virus-induced gene silencing. • Strong publication record leading to the discovery of RNAi. • Advisor: Professor Sir David Baulcombe. • Constructed plant viral vectors for study of virus-induced gene silencing. • Strong publication record leading to the discovery of RNAi.
-
-
Education
-
University of East Anglia
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Molecular Genetics -
University of California, Davis
Bachelor of Science - BS, Biochemistry
Community
